Editor’s note: This episode comes from Vistopia RoundtableEpisode 314, first released on August 31, 2023. Recorded during graduation season, it features teachers Cheng Qing and Wang Fang discussing careers and life choices. Drawing on their own experiences, they ask how we can remain different in an era when choices are becoming more alike—and more conservative.

 

A Year of Clouds and Water: Practising at Eiheiji / Kaoru Nonomura [Japan] / Qingma Culture / 2021

How We Differ: 40 Lessons in Personality Psychology / Wang Fang / Imaginist / 2023

Toiling to Make a Difference: Chinese Society and Its People Through the Lens of Microhistory / Wang Di / CITIC Press Group / 2022

Diandian: Vistopia audio editor and host of Vistopia Roundtable

Cheng Qing: associate professor in the Department of History at Shanghai University and presenter of Life’s Troubles, Answered: 40 Lessons on Buddhism